Home Office

Police Funding Settlement 2023-24

Chris Philp: My Rt Hon Friend, the Home Secretary, has today laid before the House the Police Grant Report (England and Wales) 2023-24 (HC 1066). The Report sets out the Home Secretary’s determination for 2023-24 of the aggregate amount of grants that she proposes to pay under section 46(2) of the Police Act 1996. Copies of the Report are available from the Vote Office. The allocations that have been laid before the House today are as set out in my Statement and the provisional Police Grant Report of 14 December 2022. In 2023-24 the overall funding settlement for the policing system will total up to £17.2 billion, a £287 million increase on the 2022-23 funding settlement. Available funding to Police and Crime Commissioners (PCCs) will increase next year by up to an additional £523 million, assuming full take-up of precept flexibility and using latest forecasts. This would represent an increase to PCC funding in cash terms of 3.6% on the 2022-23 police funding settlement. This settlement demonstrates how the government is honouring the commitments set out at Spending Review 2021 to provide additional funding to maintain the Police Uplift Programme and to provide additional support for the recent pay award. The attached table documents funding to PCCs for 2023-24, including precept.table (pdf, 198.6KB)

Report of the Independent Reviewer of Terrorism Legislation on the operation in 2020 of the Terrorism Acts

Suella Braverman: In accordance with section 36 of the Terrorism Act 2006, Jonathan Hall KC, the Independent Reviewer of Terrorism Legislation, has prepared a report on the operation in 2020 of the Terrorism Acts, which was laid before the House on 28 April 2022. I am grateful to Mr Hall KC for his report and have carefully considered the recommendations and observations included within. I am today laying before the House the Government’s response to the report (CP 788). Copies will be available in the Vote Office and it will also be published on GOV.UK.

Ministry of Justice

Female Offender Delivery Plan

Damian Hinds: The Government is today publishing its Female Offender Strategy Delivery Plan. The Delivery Plan sets out how Government will deliver four overarching priorities to improve outcomes for women in or at risk of contact with the criminal justice system over the period 2022 to 2025: Fewer women entering the justice system and reoffendingFewer women serving short custodial sentences with a greater proportion managed successfully in the communityBetter conditions that support rehabilitation for women in custodyProtecting the public through better outcomes for women on release The Delivery Plan includes specific and measurable commitments aimed at reducing women’s offending and reoffending, in turn making communities safer for the public. We will publish a one-year on progress report on implementation of our Delivery Plan. Effective community support is essential for women in or at risk of contact with the justice system and the Government recognises the vital role played by the women’s community sector in supporting vulnerable women and helping to reduce their reoffending. On 1 September, we announced that up to £24m will be invested in women’s community services until 2025 through multi-year grant competitions. These grants will allow us to improve the sustainability of women's services by meeting organisations’ core costs such as rent and utility bills, to improve the join up of local services and to test and build our evidence base by investing in new or additional services or interventions.The Government recognises that community sentences also play an important role in supporting women with complex needs, which often underlie their offending behaviour. While women who commit the most serious crimes will always be sent to prison, custody should be a last resort. A robust and effective community sentence delivers benefits to wider society as well as the individual. An effective community sentence means women will be less likely to lose their accommodation and employment, making it less likely they will have to call on statutory services. An effective community sentence will enable them to receive targeted support to address their individual needs, reducing the likelihood of reoffending. Targeted community sentences can help to limit the disruption to women’s families, particularly their children, in turn helping to address the cycle of intergenerational offending. We are working with courts to raise awareness and increase understanding of the specific issues faced by women who offend, including piloting a women’s specific Problem-Solving Court. Although the number of women in custody reduced by 24% between 2011 and 2021, we are committed to improving conditions for those women who do need to be in custody. We will be funding measures such as family engagement workers, additional support for women in their early days in custody and a social workers pilot with up to £14m between 2022 and 2025 to improve outcomes, including reducing self-harm. The Delivery Plan will also highlight wider government work on reducing reoffending through effective resettlement by focusing on what we know works: a home, a job and access to treatment for substance misuse, focusing on the particular issues that women face when seeking to address the causes of their offending. Alongside this Delivery Plan we are publishing two related progress reports on the Farmer Review for Women and on the National Concordat on women in or at risk of contact with the criminal justice system. Outstanding commitments from both the Farmer Review and the Concordat will be taken forward under this Delivery Plan.

Department for Work and Pensions

Diffuse Mesothelioma Payment Scheme Levy 2022-23

Tom Pursglove: The Diffuse Mesothelioma Payment Scheme (Levy) Regulations 2014 require active employers’ liability insurers to pay an annual levy, based on their relative market share, for the purpose of meeting the costs of the Diffuse Mesothelioma Payment Scheme (DMPS). This is in line with the insurance industry’s commitment to fund a scheme of last resort for persons diagnosed with diffuse mesothelioma who have been unable to trace their employer or their employer’s insurer. Today I can announce that the total amount of the levy to be charged for 2022-23, the ninth year of the DMPS, is £20.3 million. The amount will be payable by active insurers by the end of March 2023. Individual active insurers will be notified in writing of their share of the levy, together with how the amount was calculated and the payment arrangements. Insurers should be aware that it is a legal requirement to pay the levy within the set timescales. I am pleased that the DMPS has seen nine successful years of operation, assisting many hundreds of people who have been diagnosed with Diffuse Mesothelioma. The eighth Annual Report for the scheme, along with the annual statistics, were published on 22 November 2022 and is available on the gov.uk website. I hope that members of both Houses will welcome this announcement and give the DMPS their continued support.

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

Environmental Improvement Plan 2023

Dr Thérèse Coffey: This government is committed to leaving the environment in a better state than we found it. Five years ago, the 25 Year Environment Plan (25YEP) set out our vision for a quarter-of-a-century of action to help the natural world regain and retain good health. We said we would refresh the plan every five years, a commitment we set into law in the Environment Act 2021. Today I am publishing that revised plan: the Environmental Improvement Plan (EIP23). The 25YEP set out ten complementary goals. This improvement plan sets out the interim targets and our plan to deliver those goals, including measures such as:A comprehensive delivery plan to halt the decline in nature by 2030A commitment to creating and restoring at least 500,000 hectares of wildlife habitat, with 70 new projects including 25 new or expanded National Nature ReservesA new pledge on access to nature with everyone to live no more than a 15 minutes’ walk from a green or blue spaceThe Species Survival Fund for domestic species at risk, like the red squirrelFive-year interim targets to drive progress towards our long-term targets. I will look to provide the House with further details shortly. We also included in the Environment Act a requirement to publish a statement explaining the changes made through our review of the 25YEP. These changes can be grouped into two themes. These are content updates where scientific understanding and new policy has developed over the last five years; and structural changes that build on the 25YEP.  Content updates:EIP23 brings more specificity to our 25YEP goals by incorporating long-term and interim targets in the four priority areas (air quality, water, biodiversity, and resource efficiency and waste reduction), as required under the Environment Act. Also included are woodland cover and marine targets. These targets will drive environmental long-term improvement to protect and enhance our natural world.The delivery plans for each 25YEP goal incorporate the previously published environmental land management priorities (climate change mitigation and adaptation; species abundance; water quality; and soil health).EIP23 shows how our goals are interconnected, recognising the environment as a system. This includes including cross-cutting themes such as green finance and highlighting how actions in one chapter’s delivery plan drives progress towards other goals’ targets.EIP23 sets our domestic framework in the context of our wider international commitments. The 15th Conference of The Parties to The Convention on Biological Diversity in December 2022 (COP15) was an important moment for progress on biodiversity. It was agreed that Parties would update their National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan (NBSAP) by COP16. EIP23 fulfils that commitment for England in setting out actions we are taking nationally to contribute to our global commitments, with further detailed policy commitments published separately and in discussion with devolved colleagues.EIP23 outlines how driving progress towards the goals will contribute to growth in green jobs, as well as supporting employers across England to create a pipeline of skilled people to fill those jobs. Tree planting, for example, can support job creation and deliver associated economic benefits. Our new target to increase tree canopy and woodland cover to 16.5% of total land area in England is expected to support an additional 1,400 jobs by 2035. This equates to approximately one job being supported for every 5 ha of new woodland creation. Structural changes:Each 25YEP goal has its own chapter and delivery plan in EIP23. Our Environment Act targets are linked into their relevant goal chapter, showing how they have been designed to fill gaps to complement our broader environmental commitments.Improving our natural environment requires action from across government and the wider public and private sector. EIP23 provides that strengthened approach to cross-government action by including specific actions and commitments across relevant government departments within the delivery plan for each goal. Implementation will continue to be managed by cross-government governance. Specific roles for the public and private sectors and the general public are also accounted for in delivering environmental improvement.This revised Plan makes clear what the government wants to achieve; as well as when and how we will achieve it, and how we will measure progress. This sets the direction for action both in the short term and the long term.Today I am also publishing the final Environmental Principles Policy Statement setting out how the principles are to be interpreted and proportionately applied, as well as the Significant Improvement Test review report, both on gov.uk and laid before Parliament.